With the Compliments of Dr. CHARLES U. SHEPABD, Jr 



647 
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FOREIGN PHOSPHATES, 



Q 



BEING 



A LECTURE 



DEMVEIIEI) HKKORE 



The Young Men's Christian Association, 

APRIL 2 1, 1879, 

I'.v Dr. CHARLES U. SlIEPARI), Jr., 

AT THE l,.\rK)RAT()RV OF THK MEDICAL COLLEGE, CHARI,ESTON, S. C. 




CHARLESTON, S. C. 

THE NEWS AND COURIER BOOK PRESSES; 
1879. 



NOTE. 

The journey to the various European deposits, which 
constitute so important a part of the beds described in 
this Lecture, was undertaken at the instigation and ex- 
pense of Wm. L. Bradley, Esq., of Boston, Mass. 



'=j 



J 



FOREIGN PHOSPHATES. 



Having- been requested to deliver to you a lecture, and 
the choice of the subject being left to myself, I will invite 
your attention to a short consideration of the more impor- 
tant foreign phosphatic deposits. 

At a time when the production of the various Carolina 
mines has reached two hundred thousand tons per annum, 
causing the disbursement of over one million dollars in this 
neighborhood, and thereby bringing a comfortable support 
to many thousand individuals, besides returning a large 
income to the State ; when many men are considering the 
question whether they, too, will embark in the mining in- 
dustry, and thus yet swell the yearly product, it is obviously 
a wise course to consider what are the sources, other than our 
own, to which the civilized world looks for its phosphatic 
suppl^^, and how formidable they are or may become as 
competitors in its markets. 

Without dwelling on the general principles which under- 
lie the use of commercial manures, i. e. the depletion by 
successive cropping of certain indispensable elements of 
plant-food, and the well-established insufficiency of stable 
or farm manure to counteract this deficit, we will best con- 
sider what constitutes commercial phosphates, and to this 
end must review their history. 

The history of commercial manures is essentially that of 
the practical recognition of phosphoric acid. The use of 
bone and ivory clippings from the knife and button facto- 
ries of Sheffield, England, by the neighboring farmers, was 
most probably the first application of purely phosphatic 
manures. This material, amounting to eight hundred tons 
annually, was regarded as waste until the middle of the last 
century; the manufacturer's sole thought concerning it was 



to prevent its accumulation about his works. In 1774, 
Hunter first publicly advised the agricultural use of bones. 
From so restricted a beginning, and so recently, dates the 
present vast consumption of phosphatic manures, which 
failed, however, to assume any great commercial or agricul- 
tural importance until after 1820; and — it is interesting to 
note — even then without a just appreciation of what, as we 
now know, constitutes the true value of bones. 

It was only through the experiments of Justus von Liebig, 
based on the researches of de Saussure and others, that 
phosphate of lime was thus recognised. The Duke of Rich- 
mond's direct field experiments on the use of bones were 
instituted in 1843. They were undertaken to demonstrate 
that the action of calcined or boiled bones (i. e. bones de- 
prived in whole or part of their grease and gelatine,) is not 
inferior to that of crude and fresh bones. His conclusion, 
which controverted the prevailing opinion, was that the fer- 
tilizing principle of bones lies neither in grease nor in gela- 
tine, but rather m phosphate of lime, and more especially in 
phosphoric acid, and not in lime. 

The agricultural application of, and consequent demand 
for bones outran the scientific investigations on their mode 
of action. A factory for grinding bones was established 
early in this century at Hull, in England. The bone-meal 
succeeded so well, especially in the cultivation of turnips, 
that the butchers soon became unable to supply the de- 
mand, and this also, in spite of the enormous consumption 
of meat in England. Resort was had to importations from 
the Continent, where the agricultural value of bones was 
less appreciated. The effect of this enormous use of bones 
was to restore the fertility of many exhausted counties. 
Land advanced greatly in value; and heavier crops brought 
wealth and comfort to all classes of the community. Bones 
were everywhere carefully collected and shipped to the 
great commercial centers, or locally applied to the fields, 
as seemed most profitable. Not only were they obtained 
from the slaughter-houses and refuse heaps of Europe, but 
they were imported in vast quantities, generally in the 



form of burnt bones (the so-called bone-ash), from South 
America. On the immense plains of La Plata and the 
Brazilian Rio Grande there grows a long and fine grass, 
which supports enormous herds of cattle and sheep. These 
were originally imported from Europe, but have now in- 
creased so rapidly as to number, in some districts, one 
thousand head to every inhabitant. The horns, hides and 
fat of these great droves of cattle are exported ; the ton- 
gues are eaten ; a small part of the meat is utilized in the 
manufacture of Liebig's extract, the rest is allowed to 
decay, or is consumed by hogs and wild animals. The 
bones are used for fuel (there are no trees in this region) 
in obtaining the fat, which causes an immense quantity of 
burnt bones to accumulate on each farm. In addition to 
these heaps about the slaughter-pens, there are in some 
places on the pampas, huge accumulations of bones, mark- 
ing the spots where whole droves of cattle have succumbed 
to thrist, in times of drought, or have been consumed by 
a conflagration of the grass. 

In 1872, ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and 
seventy-eight tons of different sorts of bones, worth over 
three million dollars, were imported into Great Britain 
alone. 

Meanwhile another equally active demand had sprung 
up for bones. The cultivation of the sugar-beet on the 
Continent had assumed great dimensions, and bones were 
eagerly sought after for conversion into bone-black and use 
in the clarification of sugar-beet syrups, or of crude sugars 
imported from the Colonies. Happily for the farmers, at 
the time when this competition was beginning to seriously 
affect the price of bones, a substitute w^as found. Copro- 
lites, whose occurrence on both sides of the English Chan- 
nel had been known since about 1820, began to be employed 
in lieu of bones. About the same time, followed the in- 
troduction by Liebig of acid phosphates, manufactured 
from bones (1840), and from coprolites by Lawes shortly 
after. 

Immediately the interest in phosphatic materials of every 



kind was stimulated by the promulgation of their value 
and how best to utilize them. The deposits of apatite 
(mineral phosphate of lime), in Estremadura, Spain, had 
been known for many years, but their value was unappre- 
ciated until the visits of Daubeny and Widdrington in 1843. 
Numerous deposits of phosphate of lime began to be dis- 
covered and extensively excavated in France, Germany, 
Norway, America, the West Indies and the Pacific Ocean. 

SUPER-PHOSPHATES. 

That we may arrive at the commercial value of the 
various phosphatic materials to which your attention will 
be directed later, it is desirable for us to inquire briefly 
how phosphatic enrichment of the soil is accomplished. 
The generally adopted form for applying bones and mineral 
phosphates to soils is the so-called super or acid phospliatc. 
This is the product of the treatment of the finely pulver- 
ized material with sulphuric acid. The phosphoric acid 
contained in bones and mineral phosphates occurs com- 
bined, i. e. chemically united, with varitjus so-called bases, 
as lime, magnesia, oxide of iron or alumina, in compounds 
that are practically insoluble in water. The effect of treat- 
ing the above mentioned phosphates with sulphuric acid is 
to render the phosphoric acid, therein contained, more or 
less completely soluble in water. Now, the first applica- 
tion of sulphuric acid to phosphates was in consequence of 
the then prevailing opinion that plant-food must occur dis- 
solved in the water found in soils, and in order to effect 
the appropriation of phosphoric acidii^ by plants it was 
(and by some, yet is) held that phosphoric acid must be 
applied to the soil in a condition soluble in water. 

But it is well known that the soluble condition of the 
phosphoric acid in super-phosphates ceases on their inter- 
mixture with moist arable soils. It is arrested in the soil; 
held there for use by vegetation, in new combinations that 
are insoluble in water. Why, then, the necessity of bring- 
ing about, at great expense, a soluble condition of the 



phosphates, if on their application to the soil they are to 
revert to their former insoluble state? 

We hold that the ends accomplished in the treatment of 
ground phosphates with sulphuric acid are their finest sub- 
division and most thorough intermixture with the cultivated 
earth, which conditions best ensure their specly assimilation 
by plants. The finest mechanical pulverization of bones or 
mineral phosphates yields a powder whose grains, if invis- 
ible to the naked eye, are easily discernable under a magni- 
fying glass. But the chemical transformations (to which we 
have just referred ) of the same material afford a product 
whose particles are so minute that they become almost in- 
visible under the strongest microscope, and susceptible of 
solution, if not in ordinary water at least in the waters of 
the soil. The finer the particles and the more porous the 
structure, the larger is the surface exposed, and the more 
efficacious the action of any solvent. 

The treatment with super-phosphates also accomplishes a 
more rapid and complete incorporation with the soil of 
phosphoric acid than can be obtained in any other practi- 
cable way, because the fixation of the soluble acid, dissolved 
in rain or other water, takes place under ordinary circum- 
stances, more or less gradually, and is probably not confined 
to the point of its first contact with the soil, but reaches 
through a certain extent of earth, into whose finest inter- 
stices the phosphoric acid finds its way, to be thus commin- 
gled (on its retention) with every particle. 

Whether, then, it is held that the function of the super- 
phosphate is to furnish to the plant directly soluble pabu- 
lum, or that it effects the most favorable subdivision and 
distribution in the soil of this indispensable ingredient of 
plant-food, you perceive that the greater the amount of 
soluble phosphoric acid in a super-phosphate, the better 
adapted it is for accomplishing its purpose. In estimating, 
therefore, the value of any phosphate, we may inquire, as 
our basis of comparison, with how large a content of soluble 
phosphoric acid can a merchantable super-phosphate be 
prepared from it ? 



I ain not unmindful that this criterion will meet with 
objections, and, did time allow, would gladly discuss the 
nfany questions involved. But those who are unwilling to 
accept it, must at least concede that almost the entire 
phospliatic production of the world is converted into super- 
phosphates, whose cominercial, if not their agricultural, 
valuation is based on their content of soluble phosphoric 
acid. 

Our aim being, therefore, to produce phosphates which 
shall yield the highest grade of solubility in the manufactured 
article, it is wise to put each material to the actual test, and 
to inquire carefully as to what constitutes a favorable crude 
phosphate. Obviously the more phosphoric acid in the 
natural material the better. We find it combined with lime 
and magnesia, and those compounds are favorable for the 
preparation of acid phosphates. But phosphoric acid occurs 
united sometimes in part, (in company with the phosphates 
of lime and magnesia,) sometimes almost wholly with oxide of 
iron and alumina — and these modes of combination interfere 
materially with the preparation of a merchantable super- 
phosphate, i. e. such as may be bagged and applied in a 
drill ; nor in fact do they permit of a high grade of solubility 
in the manufactured article. • Then we find larger or smaller 
quantities of carbonate of lime and fluoride, or chloride of 
calcium — which, if present to the extent of only a few per 
cent., prove of assistance in attaining a dry product, but if 
more abundant, cause a wasteful use of acid and deleterious 
fumes. Finally, there are always present greater or less 
quantities of substances that may be regarded as diluents, 
chief among which may be mentioned sand. 

Thus, the more phosphates of lime and magnesia that are 
contained in a phosphate, the better, ceteris paribus, shall we 
find it answering to our value-test. Exceptions do occur to 
this rule, and some instances will be brought to your atten- 
tion later on. 

For the sake of convenience we will consider the various 
commercial phosphates in the following order: 



GUANO, 1 

ALTERED GUANO, } Phosphatic materials whose near origin is clearly 

FOSSIL BONES, \ animal. 

COl'ROLITES, J 

PHOSPHORITE, / p, , ,. , ■ , u ..... 

APATTTF \ nospnatic materials whose near origin is mineral. 

GUANO. 

It is well for us to include guano in the above list, not only 
because of its very considerable phosphatic content, (say 
twenty to thirty per cent, of phosphates,) but also because 
of the serious competition which it must exert in the agri- 
cultural world so long as its supply holds out. 

I have referred to the im.portant influence of bones in the 
introduction of phosphatic fertilizers ; but there can be no 
doubt that the enormous consumption of Peruvian guano — 
the result of its well established agricultural value — and 
its subsequent advance in price, as also its late deterioration 
in quality, paved the way directly for the present vast 
trade in manufactured manures. The extent of the trade in 
guano may be realized from the statement that Great Bri- 
tain alone imported of this article in the period 1844 to 
to 1873, five million two hundred and fifty thousand tons, 
valued at over three hundred million dollars. 

With regard to the quantity of guano still remaining at 
the disposal of the Peruvian Government (and almost all 
real guano is, or rather was, Peruvian,) the statements are 
most contradictory. On the one hand, we have the asser- 
tion of that Government that they possess some forty to 
forty-five localities, containing more or less extensive de- 
posits of merchantable guano. On the other hand, the 
l^ritish Consul at Callao, reported, in 1873, that Peru did 
not possess three million tons of exportable guano. This 
would last at the present rate of shipment only a year or so 
longer. The complete exhaustion of the Chincha guano— 
the best of the Peruvian — and the probably early consump- 
tion of the Guanape — ^judging from the fact that cargoes of 
inferior guanos are being exported from }'et other Peruvian 
2 



10 

localities — lead the public which has invested in Peruvian 
bonds, secured on the guano-returns of the Government, 
and those who depend on this article for agricultural pur- 
poses, to infer that the enormous excavation of these beds 
has, at last, almost exhausted what at first sight appeared to 
be a boundless supply. Such at least is the belief among the 
English holders of Peruvian bonds, and the manufacturers 
of commercial manures at home and abroad. Even the 
most hopeful look forward to the complete exhaustion of 
the Peruvian, and all similar beds, before the end of this 
century. At the present time, it is doubtful if the annual 
importations of nitrogenous guano into Europe and the 
United States exceeds one hundred to one hundred and 
fifty thousand tons — a mere bagatelle when we remember 
that it has almost reached six hundred thousand tons for 
one year. 

The decline in quantity and quality of unaltered (es- 
pecially Peruvian) guano, steadily augments the demand for 
those manufactured manures which are designed to supply 
its place. These are the so-called "complete manures;" 
complete because in addition to phosphoric acid, they con- 
tain nitrogenous matter, potash and other more common 
bases, each and all important as elements of plant-food and 
occurring in the old favorite guano. 

For our present purpose, it is unnecessary to say. more 
concerning guano beds, than that they are due to th^^ccu-^ 
mulation of countless multitudes of marine birds, with 
which arc mingled their feathers and their bodies, when 
dead, and, also, the carcasses and dung of certain sea 
animals, such as the sea-lion, seal and walrus. Certain 
natural conditions are necessary for the accumulation and 
preservation of guano, these are : i. Extreme abundance of 
fish food. 2. Total absence of rain. 3. Limited area of 
the islands or promontories serving as resting and brooding 
spots. 4. Solidity of the rocks of these latter. 

Unaltered guano constitutes a more or less finely pulver- 
ulent mass, of a light yellow color and a strong ammoniacal 
odor, with white, yellow or brown lumps interspersed 
throuijh it. 



11 

7\LTERED GUANOS. 

A — 'JViosc retaining their pulverulent fonn. 

The chan<^e.s which guar.o deposits undergo are due to 
physical and chemical causes. The chief physical causes 
are lixiviation by water (rain and ocean) and volatilization 
from solar heat ; the chemical are decomposition under the 
influence of water and heat, and contact with the constitu- 
ents of salt-water and the rocks or soil on which the deposit 
has been formed. It is convenient to divide the altered 
guanos into (A) those that have to the greater part preserv- 
ed their original pulverulent form, and (B) those that have 
been transformed into rock formations. 

It may be observed that a sharp distinction is impossible 
in this division, since deposits occur where all the stages 
from fresh guano to rock-guano may be observed at various 
depths in one and the same locality; and, therefore, the 
order accorded to the various deposits must be governed 
largely by convenience. 

The Mexillones guano occurs on a promontory about 
twelve miles wide and forty long, which stretches out into 
the South Pacific Ocean at the point where the States of 
Bolivia and Chili meet. The harbor on the North is excel- 
lent. But the region is inhospitable and uninhabitable ; 
there arc violent winds, no rain, no potable water, mists 
until ten o'clock every morning, and then extreme heat 
from a cloudless sky; a sandy or rocky soil, and no vegeta- 
tion. The coast steamers have here a coaling station, whose 
inhabitants are obliged to bring their food from a distance, 
and trust to distillation for their water. The rocky pro- 
montory before alluded to is from one thousand to twenty- 
five hundred feet high, and is covered generally with sand. 
The guano deposit occurs on its slopes, the chief mass being 
found at an elevation of seventeen hundred feet above the 
sea ; in places its thickness is forty feet. Altogether there 
are supposed to be several million tons. The deposit is 
difficult of access, and the guano has to be brought in sacks 



12 

by a mountain path, one mile long, to an inclined way down 
which it is cast to the mole below. The capacity of the 
works is two hundred tons per diem. 

There is a light covering of sand and stone, which has to 
be removed. The deposit has a remarkably uniform com- 
position : the lower strata, however, contain less moisture 
and more nitrogen, and arc, consequently, more valuable. 
The guano is light-yellow in color; consists of three-fourths 
powder and one-fourth lumps. The lumps are readily pulver- 
ized ; the powder is light in weight and easily suspended in 
water. It is a lixiviated bird-guano, from the action of salt- 
water, and contains a larger amount of phosphoric acid in pro- 
portion to the content of bases than we find either in bones or 
most other phosphatic materials; and consequently we are 
not surprised at its comparatively greater solubility in weak 
solvents. Manufacturers have experienced great trouble in 
their attempts to make from it a dry, high-grade super- 
phosphate. 

The shipment of Mexillones guano is mostly to Germany, 
whither as much as twenty thousand tons have been brought 
in one year. It is claimed that England consumes several 
thousand tons annually. 

The tendency of the super-phosphates made from the 
Mexillones article to remain in a soft and pasty condition, 
and the consequent difficulty encountered in the attempt to 
prepare a dry and merchantable product from it, must inter- 
fere with the ready consumption which its apparent richness 
in phosphoric acid would seem to promise. But whether 
this obstacle can be overcome or not, the very recent out- 
break of hostilities between Peru, Chili and Bolivia must 
certainly impede, if not arrest the exportation. 

THE PACIFIC PHOSPHATES. 

The United States Congress, in 1856, put under the pro- 
tection of the Union all the guano islands lying in the Pa- 
cific Ocean, for ten degrees North and South of the Equa- 
tor, and between one hundred and fifty and one hundred 
and eighty degrees West longitude. 



13 

All of these islands are small and low, formed of coral 
reefs on submerged volcanic peaks; they generally contain 
a lagoon of salt-water, and are surrounded by coral reefs. 
The lagoon becomes gradually filled with coral fragments 
and sand, and then covered with guano, since the islands 
constitute the only place of refuge and breeding for sea- 
birds in a vast expanse of ocean. Most of the islands are 
liable to rain storms, which wash out, and sometimes off, 
the fa:cal accumulation, and support a scanty vegetation of 
bushes and low trees. The annual fall of rain is not great, 
but under the influence of the equatorial sun, it produces a 
rapid decomposition, whose products are wafted away by 
the steady trade wind, or, dissolved in water, sink into the 
mass. Characteristic for these deposits are the absence of 
nitrogenous matter and the high percentage of phosphates, 
with fine pulverulent condition. Underneath this fine mass — 
in which hard crusts and lumps may occur — is sometimes 
found a very rich phosphatic rock, the result of the infiltra- 
tion of a solution of the phosphatic salts from above, into 
the coral rock beneath. 

The analyses of a number of specimens of such rock 
guanos from Enderberry Island gave an average of 39.08 
per cent, phosphoric acid. 

Of late years the shipments from these islands have fiillen 
off from many thousand tons per annum to but a few thous- 
and ; the bulk of the cargoes going to Germany, where they 
bring a high price (thirty to forty dollars per ton,) by reason 
of their adaptability to the manufacture of the high grade 
super-phosphates employed in that country — which are sold 
to contain twenty per cent, soluble phosphoric acid. The 
voyage is long, and the difficulties and dangers arising from 
the want of any harbors at these islands, combined with the 
almost exhausted condition of the deposits, render their 
present working unprofitable. 

B — Rock-guanos. 

Under rock-guanos we understand those rock formations 



14 



consisting essentially of phosphate of lime (or in a few in- 
stances of phosphates of magnesia, alumina and the oxide 
of iron,) which are derived from original deposits of guanos, 
and owe their present form to various physical and chemi- 
cal causes. 

Since the application of Liebig's method (of rendering 
bones soluble by the addition of sulphuric acid) to mineral 
phosphates, the rock-guanos have been much sought after 
on account of their generally high percentage of phosphoric 
acid, and the excellence of the supoi'-phosphates manufac- 
tured from them. In consequence of this demand the 
West India Islands and other localities where such deposits 
are likely to be found, have been carefully and repeatedly 
searched. New beds of phosphatic guanos have been dis- 
covered from time to time, but owing to the small (juantities 
of available material that they usually contained, they have 
generally been soon exhausted, and thus have ceased to in- 
fluence the market. Notable exceptions, however, have 
been the Monks', Sombrero and Curacoa rock-guanos, whose 
quantity and quality have entitled them to play a prominent 
part in agriculture. 

At this day we seldom hear of any fresh and important 
discovery in the West Indies; and while it is not impossible 
that virgin deposits may yet be found and worked, such 
nevertheless becomes yearly more improbable, as prospect- 
ing parties have hunted through all the many islands, reefs 
and coasts of these unquestionably ancient guano regions. 
Whole islands have been, as it were, transported in ships 
across the seas, and the amount of phosphatic guanos 
annually thrown on the European market was enormous so 
long as the deposits held out. With the exception of the 
New Curacoa there is at present no large phosphatic deposits 
in the West Indies wliose quality wi/l permit of its shipment 
across the ocean. Beds of phosphates containing, however, 
large quantitiesof oxide of iron and alumina (as the Navassa), 
or composed almost entirely of these objectionable ingredi- 
ents (as the Rcdonda or Elroque), do exist in very extensive 
deposits; but the former meet with a very limited demand. 



15 

and with the latter manufacturers refuse to have anything 
to do. With regard to the Monks', Old Curacoa and 
Sombrero Islands deposits, it is for our purpose only neces- 
sary to note their practical exhaustion long since ; and of 
the New Curocoa we know little beyond the very promising 
reports that have been spread abroad concerning it. If this 
last mentioned source fulfills now only in part the expecta- 
tions of its owner it must prove a very troublesome com- 
petitor for Carolina phosphate in the English market, since 
botli its quantity and quality have been greatly praised. 

Raza Island in the Gulf of California, has furnished a re- 
markably rich phosphatic rock-guano. The deposit was 
small and has been sent wholly to Hamburg. It has been 
in all probability ere this exhausted. 

FOSSIL BONES AND COPROLITES. 

Without dwelling on fossil bones, since separate deposits 
of this character are rare and small, we will pass at once 
to coprolites. 

The true coprolites are generally two to four inches long, 
one to two inches in diameter, gray to black in color, and 
have the shape of kidneys. Internally they exhibit an 
earthy, dense structure like hardened clay, with aconchoidal 
and brilliant fracture. " They often contain the scales, 
teeth and bones of fish, which represent the undigested 
portions of food voided in the excrement ; and they are 
occasionally found in such connection with the skeletons of 
fossil saurians as to show their original position in the in- 
testines." The investigation of these rounded fossil ex- 
crements proves that they were once finely ground, and 
when in a soft state were twisted spirally from center to 
periphery, and that then they received (in the intestines of 
animals) the ridges and corrugations that mark their surface. 
They occur largely in many of the secondary and tertiarj' 
formations, but especially in the Lias, in England. 

The f^scmio coprolites are phosphatic nodules or pebbles 
of gray or grayish-black color, of irregular ovoid form, and 



16 

of the size of the true coprolites, with which they were at 
first confounded. They are undoubtedly of remote ani- 
mal origin, and were probably formed in the following 
manner : Accumulations of decomposed animal detritus 
^^^X^-iid exuvi^ were acted upon by carbonic acid water, which 
dissolved out the phosphates and transported them into 
calcareous earth, where they were precipitated and fixed by 
carbonate of lime. This process continued until the car- 
bonate of lime was transformed into a rich phosphate of 
lime. The mass, originally soft and loose, hardened gradu- 
ally, but under the wear and roll of water it was broken 
up and rounded into the phosphatic pebbles now found 
thrown upon the coast of Suffolk and other places. With 
them occur fragments of bones, teeth and often true 
coprolites. 

There are three kinds of coprolites raised and sold in 
England : 

I. The Cambridgeshire coprolites, occurring in the green- 
sand over the gault, in color grayish-black, or more fre- 
quently grayish-green ; they belong generally to the class of 
pseudo-coprolites, and are mixed with considerable calcare- 
ous matter, sponges, coral, &c. 

The land about Cambridge and as far West as Shilling- 
ton has been so thoroughly worked for coprolites that it 
may be safely said that little remains at an accessible 
depth of this once important deposit. 

The yield per acre rarely exceeds four hundred tons, and 
often falls to only one hundred and fifty. The cost of min- 
ing is enhanced by the great depth at which the remaining 
deposits occur; viz: ten to thirty feet, averaging fully 
twenty; as also by the high cost of the lands containing 
coprolites, say one thousand dollars an acre, or the equally 
expensive privilege to excavate the phosphates with the 
super-imposed obligation to afterwards restore the land to 
its proper level and replace the top-soil. The phosphatic 
seam is mined in an open trench, the top-soil being care- 
fully removed and heaped up by itself, and the other super- 
incumbent strata thrown over the excavated land. The 



17 

entire seam is carried in horse carts to the washers, and yields 
about fifteen to twenty per cent, clean coprolites. The wash- 
ers are simple circular tubs placed horizontally in the 
earth, in which the rock is kept in motion by large rakes 
propelled by steam-power, under a continuous stream of 
water. The capacity of each washer is about five tons per 
diem. At the present prices for coprolites, there is little, 
if any, profit in their excavation. 

2. The Suffolk or crag coprolites are hard and difficult 
to grind ; they have a smooth, shiny surface aijd fracture, 
and a dark-brown color. They occur between the crag and 
the London clay in a seam three to eighteen inches thick, 
with a great variety and number of fossil bones and teeth ; 
ordinarily at such depths as to hardly pay for their excava- 
tion. The Suffolk coprolites are generally somewhat in- 
ferior to those from Cambridgeshire. 

3. Bedfordshire coprolites ; they are from the older 
green-sand formation under the gault, and contain much 
less phosphoric acid and more oxide of iron and sand, but 
are more abundant and accessible than those previously 
mentioned. They are dark in color, and contain from forty 
to fifty per cent, bone phosphate of lime. 

The total annual yield of the various English coprolitic 
deposits is about twenty-five thousand tons. According to 
Prof. Albert Hunt's mineral statistics, thirty-five thousand 
tons of all grades were raised in 1872; their value being 
fifty thousand pounds, or about seven dollars per ton. 
While the difficulty of excavating these deposits has been 
increased by the previous exhaustion of the more acces- 
sible beds and the higher cost of labor, foreign phosphates 
have been introduced in great quantity, and of much 
superior quality, so that the English coprolites have long 
since lost the importance which they acquired soon after 
their first utilization. 

Frcncli Coprolites. 

Of coprolites (using the term in its commercial significa- 



18 

tion) there are three important deposits in France, viz : 
the Bologne or Calais, the Ardennes and the Bellegarde. 

Phosphatic nodules have been found on the Northeast- 
ern coast of France, from Havre to the Flemish border. 
They are very similar to the inferior quality of Bedford- 
shire coprolitcs ; are hard to pulverize, of grayish or green- 
ish-black color, but generally larger than the English. 
They contain a large amount of sand and frequently of 
oxide of iron and alumina, so that they can be employed 
only in the manufacture of low-grade articles. Never- 
theless they are extensively imported into England. 

The so-called Ardennes phosphates possess greater import- 
ance, as they are largely and successfully used in French agri- 
culture, in the simple, finely ground powder. The nodules 
are from one-half to three inches in diameter; in color, ex- 
ternally, gray or greenish-brown, internally of a bronze tint. 
With them occur abundantly phosphatized shells, petrified 
wood, fossil teeth and bones. The deposit comes to the 
surface in places, but the economic excavation takes place 
ordinarily by open trenches. The actual cost of the ground 
phosphate is about ten dollars per ton, which leaves a 
very small margin for profit, as it is principally sold in 
Brittany at fourteen dollars. The annual production of 
these beds was estimated in 1872 at twenty-five thousand 
tons, and has increased since then very materially. 

The Bcllcgai'dc phosphates consist largely of phosphatized 
shells, occurring in an argillaceous sand belonging to the 
gault. They are worked both by open trenches and gal- 
leries, the rock which is richer in phosphates being removed 
to the open air, where it is piled up and allowed to weather 
before being ground and further treated. An examination 
of the principal mines failed to corroborate the extraordi- 
nary statements that have been published in regard to the 
extent and quality of this deposit. The Bellegarde phos. 
phates may possibly exercise considerable local influence, 
but the low content of phosphoric acid in the material 
found on the spot would prevent its wide shipment. This 
deposit occurs where the Ivli^ie enters the French territory. 





19 
PHOSPHATES OF MINERAL ORIGIN. 

There are very important beds of phospliate of lime, 
(more or less pure,) whose origin cannot be traced to animal 
life, but is rather referable to mineral sources. Whether 
the phosphoric acid contained in them belongs to the 
primeval mineral stock of that ingredient, or at some ex- 
ceedingly remote period was a constituent of animal bodies 
and, after com.plete chemical disintegration, has arrived at 
its present condition, must be left to the future for decision. 
The question lacks practical importance. 

The material from these phosphatic deposits may be 
divided into crystalline (or sub-crystalline) and amorphous 
(not crystalline). The terms usually applied to these mine- 
ralogical varieties, are " apatite " for the former, and " phos- 
phorite " for the latter. One of the distinctive characteris- 
tics of apatite is its greater hardness. 

PHOSPHORITE. 

The Russian phosphorite (locally known as the " Samo- 
rod ") occurs generally in the strata of the cretaceous forma- 
tion, it is also, however, found in those of the Jurassic, 
Tertiary, and even the Silurian. In the cretaceous, the 
phosphate appears more frequently as a deposit under- 
lying the white chalk, sometimes it is discovered under the 
green sand. Elsewhere the deposit crops out on the sur- 
face of the earth, being disseminated in nodules through 
the cultivated soil. The area of this bed between the 
Dnieper and Volga Rivers is estimated at about fifty mil- 
lion acres, and there are yet others already discovered of 
greater or less abundance. 

M. Yermoloff, who assisted Prof. Engelhardt in the recent 
geological and economic survey of Russia, has stated : " We 
do not think that we exaggerate when we say that Central 
Russia reposes on phosphate of lime, with which she is able 
to pave the half of Europe." 

In the beds of the central belt, between Smolensk, Orel, 



20 

Koursk and Vcroneje, this phosphate occurs cither as sepa- 
rate nodules or in large flat masses, (similar, indeed, to the 
forms of Carolina phosphate,) of a grayish or brownish color, 
in a seam capable of yielding certainly over one thousand 
tons to the acre, if not so much as is claimed by Yermoloff, 
viz : six thousand tons per acre. 

One of the best localities for the inspection of the 
" Samorod " is at the village of Jablovky, in the district of 
Dmitrofsk, Government of Orel. There the rock comes to 
the light on the sides of gullies, water worn in the rolling 
country. Its depth from the surface varies from two to 
ten feet, and more. The stratum underlies undoubtedly an 
immense extent of country, but apparently at such depths 
that even if its quality were good, it would not prove re- 
munerative to carry the excavation beyond the ravines 
where it has been exposed by the water courses. The 
"Samorod" forms there, more or less flat irregular blocks, 
one or two feet square, and eight to twelve inches in thick- 
ness. Their upper surface is smooth, shiny and mammil- 
latcd ; the lower, which is irregular and uneven, shows 
plainly that they are composed of nodules held together by 
a siliceous and calcareous cement. The nodules are hard, of 
a dark gray color; they emit a naphthous odor on friction, 
and contain a great deal of sand, whose particles are plainly 
visible to the naked eye. The " Samorod " is apparently 
the only rock occurring in this region, and, consequently, 
serves as a stone for the construction of foundations and 
chimneys, as also for macadamizing highways and ballasting 
railroads. An examination into the commercial value of 
these deposits, led to the conclusion that where the phos- 
phate rock is accessible, its quality is too poor to admit of its 
more than local utilization ; whilst the richer nodules occur- 
ring, as they do, disseminated through a compact forma- 
tion, cannot be mined profitably. Only one local attempt 
had been made to agriculturally utilize these vast deposits, 
and that had proved a failure. 

The Welsh and Bohcjuian black phosphatic sJialcs are com- 
paratively unimportant deposits, as their generally low con- 



21 

tent of phosphoric acid and large percentage of oxide of 
iron preclude their use in the manufacture of super-phos- 
phates. 

The Bordeaux pJiosphatcs — as the phosphorite obtained 
from the Departments of Lot, Tarn-et-Garonnc and Avcyron 
is commercially called — on the other hand, have played an 
important part in the English markets. The principal 
mines in 1875 were behind Ciijarc, and not far from Larna- 
gol, situated on the top of some high hills, several hundred 
feet above the level of the river Lot, which flows at their 
base. Phosphate crops out on the surface at several places, 
and was formerly collected from the fields, and used in the 
construction of stone walls. The formation of the region 
is a Jurassic limestone. The phosphatic rock occurs in 
pockets and fissures in the limestone, accompanied by a red 
phosphatic clay, and, occasionally, in other localities, by the 
fossil bones of the rhinoceros, mouse, bat, birds, land turtles, 
and other animals. The phosphate is white or colored, 
sometimes of a red or dark brown color; massive, or in thin 
lamellae, (often compactly united,) or again in nodules fre-* 
quently with a differently colored kernel of rock or, some- 
times, of clay. 

The pockets of phosphate arc extremely irregular, so that 
the yield and even the quality of the beds are very uncer- 
tain. "The Pearl " mine at Mas-Merlin afforded several 
thousand tons in a short time. In 1875 it could hardly pay ; 
but it was being worked in the hope of striking a larger 
mass. On either side of it were mines, then abandoned, 
which had yielded small quantities. The phosphate seems 
to have filled an irregular fissure at "The Pearl" mine, 
being enclosed by the dolomitic limestone, with here and 
there a mass of the red clay before mentioned. It came to 
the surface, and appears to have attained its greatest 
thickness within a few yards of the top ; at the depth of 
seventy-five feet the phosphate rock became very thin and 
uncertain. The mass was, in places, ten feet thick, but or- 
dinarily, it consisted of several more or less parallel and 
thin bands, often ending abruptly. The excavations for the 



22 

phosphate were from twenty to thirty feet broad, about fifty 
to seventy-five feet deep, and from one hundred to four hun- 
dred feet long. Most of the beds were practically exhaust- 
ed. Some of the best phosphate was excavated in sufficient- 
ly clean pieces so as to require no washing, and sold in the 
English market for thirteen to fourteen pence per unit of 
bone phosphate of lime when varying from sixty to seventy 
per cent., and from fourteen to fifteen pence per unit when 
above seventy per cent. The remainder of the rock was 
passed through a simple horizontal washer driven by steam, 
and, being of a low grade, is consumed in the French 
market. 

The lumps of the first quality (the "piece-rock") were 
usually several inches in diameter, and of a bright color, 
while those of the second quality were about the size of 
hazel nuts, and of a reddish color, containing considerable 
oxide of iron and alumina. 

No new deposits have been discovered in these regions 
during the past six years notwithstanding continued and 
careful prospecting; and the general impression prevails 
that the better part, both in quality and quantity, has 
already been sent to market. The production has reached 
twenty thousand tons per annum. 

In addition to the varieties before mentioned, there occurs 
many very beautiful specimens of bright color, brilliant 
lustre and fantastic form, often covered with delicate man- 
ganitic dendrites. The origin of the deposit is concretion- 
ar3\ The phosphate is supposed to have been deposited out 
of solution by warm saline springs. 

The German phosphate, which occurs along the Lahn, is 
attributed to the concentration in limited beds and pockets 
of the small content of phosphate of lime found in the lime- 
stone of that region. Without entering upon a detailed 
description of the Lahn phosphate, I will confine myself to 
a brief description of the most important mines in this de- 
posit, viz : those at Dehrn, between Limburg and Weilbach. 

The mines are situated upon some high hills on both 
banks of the Lahn. The land belongs to private individuals 



23 



and the several towns in thcvacinity; it is generally worked 
on a royalty. The phosphorite occurs almost entirely in 
pockets in the limestone, without any special indications on 
the surface. This necessitates boring to ascertain the ex- 
istence of the deposits, and the country abounds in aban- 
doned experimental shafts. The pockets arc found at 
various depths (eighty to two hundred feet) from the surface. 
Descending the shafts by the rude bucket and hand-wind- 
lass, here ordinarily employed, I found the phosphorite to 
occur in a very irregular bed, with a thickness of a few feet 
at best. Galleries are worked to the ends of the pocket. 
In places the rock does not require blasting, but dynanite is 
generally used in the shafts and galleries. The excavated 
phosphate is assorted into "piece" and "wash" rock. The 
former consists of large pieces of more or less pure phos- 
phorite, which are cleaned by hand and hammer from ad- 
hering impurities. The latter consists of small fragments 
or masses covered with clay, &c., which are transported 
to the steam washers on the river, and then cleansed as 
much as possible. When ready for the market, the "wash" 
rock is about hazel-nut size, or even smaller, and generally 
of a decidedly reddish color. It contains very considerable 
quantities of oxide of iron and alumina. The "piece" rock 
constitutes only about one-fifth of the product of the 
mines, and is often much vitiated by the oxides of iron and 
manganese, and alumina. The pieces rarely exceed the 
size of a man's fist. The region, where the pockets were 
being worked, embraced but a few hundred acres; and con- 
sidering the difficulties and great cost, as also the adverse 
feeling of manufacturers towards the rock, it cannot be ex- 
pected that these deposits will realize the hopes entertain- 
ed when they were first discovered and mined. The 
production at Dehrn had been very considerable. One pro- 
prietor had raised fifteen thousand to twenty thousand tons 
per annum, but in 1875 he was producing about four 
thousand tons. A very considerable quantity of clean rock 
was being held for better times and prices, which, I fear, 
will never come for it, considering the objections to the 



24 



Lahn phosphate. T)icsc do not refer to a low content of 
phosphoric acid — for it is possible to secure consignments 
guaranteed with phosphoric acid equivalent to seventy per 
cent, bone phosphate of lime — but rather to the presence of 
large amounts of oxide of iron and alumina, which prevent 
the production of high-grade and dry super-phosphates. 
The best average price paid for Lahn phosphate, on the spot, 
rarely exceeds eight dollars per ton. The better qualities 
are shipped to England for the manufacture of super-phos- 
phates ; the medium qualities are similarly used in England ; 
and the poorest sorts arc reduced to powder for direct appli- 
cation to the soil. 

Spanish Phosphorite. 

The existence of beds of phosphate of lime in Spain has 
been long known, although it is only since a comparatively 
recent date that their true composition and value have been 
appreciated, and yet later that active mining operations 
have been carried on at the different localities. The mineral 
has long borne the name of " fosforita " from the phospho- 
rescent liglit produced by throwing its powder upon live 
coals in a dark room. In former days it has been emplo}-ed 
as a stone of construction. Logrosan and Cuceres arc the 
two principal localities for phosphates in Spain ; thc\' arc 
situated in the Province of Estremadura. 

Logrosan is a wretched mountain town of some nine hun- 
dred souls; is distant nearly thirty miles from both Trujillo 
and Villanueva de la Serena — the latter being a station on 
the railway from Madrid to Lisbon. There are several dis- 
tinct veins of phosphorite at Logrosan. I will confine m}'- 
self, however, to the description of the principal one, called 
" Costanaza," as also " Nuestra Senora del Consuclo," at the 
time of a visit to it in 1875. 

The mine was idle. Operations had been suspended in 
consequence of legal injunctions, and the officers of the 
company had been forbidden to dispatch the (possibly) ten 
thousand tons of phosphorite that lay piled up beside the 



mine. Some six hundred men liad been previously employ- 
ed about this mine. 

The vein has been so well developed that the immense 
quantity of the deposit is readily apparent. Its total length 
is about two and a half miles ; the river starting from the 
foot of Mt. Boyales, at the North, and traversing the inter- 
mediate plain for the distance of almost one mile, cuts and 
crosses the hill on which stands the chapel Nuestra Seiiora 
del Consuelo, and continuing its course in a Southeasterly 
direction, extends for the distance of a mile to a hill covered 
with cork-trees. The mining operations have been chiefly 
carried on where the phosphatic vein crosses the elevation 
near the chapel, but pits have been opened along its entire 
course, which is easily followed by its appearance on the 
surface. 

The general formation at Logrosan is a silurian argilla- 
ceous schist (slate), through which conical masses of granite 
have forced their way, as also the almost perpendicular 
metamorphic veins of phosphorite. Accompanying the 
phosphate, and often running through it, are bands of coarse 
quartz. The walls of slate enclosing the vertical phosphatic 
vein exhibit considerable decomposition and disintegration. 
The width or thickness of the vein of phosphorite averages 
ten feet, although in places it swells out to twenty feet and 
more, and is then apt to contain parallel streaks of quartz 
and the gangue or enclosing rock. At the center of the ex- 
cavation, viz : on top of the hill, and near the surface, the 
vein is unquestionably thicker than at the ends and bottom 
of the trench, although the phosphorite extends both 
longitudinally and vertically. 

The purest phosphate and greatest yield was obtained at 
the depth of a few feet from the surface. The depth to 
which the excavation had been carried varied from ten to 
forty feet ; the length of the trench w^as about half a mile, 
it seemed quite free from spring-water. The rock is blast- 
ed ; the larger pieces are cleaned by hand and hammer, and 
then assorted into high and low grades. The pieces of 
trimmed rock average three to four inches in diameter. 



2G 

The presence of the scams of cjuartz constitutes a much 
greater annoyance than the generally outlying clayey slate. 
Carbonate of lime does not occur, apparently, at this locality. 

The Logrosan phosphate has a sub-crystalline structure ; 
it does not produce electricity, and is inodorous, even on 
friction. Its texture is somewhat fibrous, some pieces ex- 
hibiting a brilliant, radiated structure, resembling a feather. 
Although the large masses are readily broken and crushed, 
the fine pulverization of this phosphorite is difficult. To the 
touch it is soft, its streak is ferruginous and chalky. Its 
distinctive characteristic is the green phosphorescent light it 
imparts to fire. The friction of two pieces on each other 
creates phosphoresence. The highest grade rock is rosy- 
white or yellowish-white in color, soft, of a concentric 
structure, often radiated, with a mammillary or conchoidal 
surface. Reddish spots (from iron) and beautiful dendrites 
(from manganese) are not infrequent. The poorer qualities 
are milky-white, vitreous, hard, and contain considerable 
silica. 

The shipment of this phosphate necessitates great trouble 
and expense. It is transported in heavy wagons, drawn by 
mules or oxen, and carrying two to two and a half tons to 
the load, to the railway at Villanueva de la Serena. The 
carts make two trips a week, and receive about twenty 
cents per hundred weight. The cost of transportation and 
handling until the phosphate is put on shipboard at Lisbon, 
amounts to almost ten dollars a ton, and the expenses reach 
fifteen dollars by the time the rock has been landed in 
England. It is claimed that it brings twenty-five dollars 
per ton in the English market. A railway to Villanueva 
would reduce the freight expenses materially, but would 
itself cost one million two hundred thousand dollars. This 
line, once constructed, would permit of the delivery of sim- 
ply enormous quantities of this high-grade rock to the ex- 
clusion of a corresponding amount of the Carolina and other 
rocks of lower value. The officers at the mine stated their 
readiness to guarantee their product at seventy-five to 
eighty-five per cent, bone phosphate of lime, as also their 



27 

ability to raise and lay down their phosphate beside the 
mine at less than three dollars per ton, 

I have dwelt at such length on this mine, because it is 
apparently the only great competitor in the future which 
threatens seriously our local industry. Of the quantity and 
quality of the Logrosan phosphate, there can be no doubt ; 
happily, however, such is the tardiness of Spanish Courts, 
it may be long locked to commerce; and, even then, so 
great is the disinclination of the capitalists to investments 
in the interior of Spain, it may be equally long before rail 
connection with the coast is made. 

TJic C^iccrcs Mines, on the other hand, are our present 
competitors in the English market, and, as such, deserve 
special notice. 

Ciiceres lies forty-three miles to the North of Merida, a 
station on the railroad from Madrid to Lisbon, and not far 
from the Portuguese frontier. The road to Caceres is macad- 
amized, but owing to its constant use by some four hun- 
dred ox and mule carts, burdened with phosphorite, its 
condition is wretched. The carts are similar to those em- 
ployed at Logrosan, and the rate for the transportation of 
the phosphate to the railway about the same, although the 
distance is greater, because there is no pretence of a road 
from Logrosan. 

The principal mines at Caceres are united in the " Frater- 
nidad " Company, and bear the names of the Esmeralda, 
Estrella, San Eugenio, San Salvador, Peria and Lucero. 
The superficial extent of each of these properties is about 
thirty acres, with the right of future extension, if requisite. 

Erom 1866, when mining operations began, to October, 
1875, this company had furnished about one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand tons. They received from two dollars 
to three dollars and fifty cents, according to the quality, 
for the rock at the mines. The cost of transportation to 
Lisbon amounts to about eight dollars per ton. The chemi- 
cal analysis of the rock gives from fifty-three to eighty-six 
per cent, of bone phosphate of lime, with an average of 
about sixty to sixty-five per cent. 



28 



The formation at Cticcres is different from that at Logro- 
san, in that viens of dark limestone accompany the phos- 
phorite and quartz which have burst up through the clayey 
slate. The " Esmeralda " mine — which is the largest and 
best — has two distinct veins, shooting up from below at an 
angle of about forty-five degrees, and penetrating the side 
of a hill some three miles from Caceres. The thickness of 
each of the veins varies from ten to thirty feet, with a 
variable quantity of enclosed gangue. They have been ex- 
cavated to the depth of about one hundred feet, and show 
only slight irregularities in their course. Although the 
vein appears to become narrower as it is followed into the 
hill, the floor of the mine and the ends of the galleries con- 
sist of high-grade phosphorite. This is enclosed by walls of 
hard, brown limestone, towards which it is itself white and 
compact, but at the centre of the vein it is softer, crumb- 
ling easily, and has a rosy color. 

In this mine less of the hard, vitreous rock is found than 
in the others. 

Without entering upon a description of the other mines ot 
this company, some of which were closed, I will only add 
that the total recent production has been about twenty-five 
thousand tons annually ; and that the rock is of two kinds ; 
the one, granular and of a light-yellowish or pinkish color, 
crumbling easily; the other, vitreous and hard, white in 
color, with occasional streaks of quartz or limestone. 

Most of the Spanish phosphate goes to England, whither 
thirty-three thousand tons were shipped in 1874. France 
also consumes a few thousand tons. The Spaniards make 
no home use of their rock, although their lands stand in 
sore need of such enrichment. 

The Spanish phosphates are very difficult to grind, but 
nevertheless make good super-phosphates, which dry readily, 
and do not lose in soluble phosphoric acid, as they contain 
very little oxide of iron and alumina. 



29 
DEPOSITS OF APATITE. 

Of the Canadian apatitic deposits little is known beyond 
the fact that they consist of pockets (or bunches) of high- 
grade phosphate of lime, of crystalline structure, imbedded 
in granite, gneiss and mica-slate. Occasionally light-green, 
six-sided prismatic crystals of pure apatite are found. The 
commercial samples consist of hard crystalline masses, of a 
greenish or yellowish color, contaminated somewhat with 
adhering fragments of the " gangue " rock. It is claimed 
that very considerable quantities of apatite exist in Canada ; 
but possibly owing to their occurrence in widely separated 
pockets, the cost of excavation and hand-trimming from 
the accompanying rock and the great expense of transpor- 
tation, not much of it is met with in the phosphatic trade. 
The production heretofore has not certainly exceeded ten 
thousand tons annually, and possibly not much over five 
thousand. It is almost entirely consumed in New England 
and Great Britain. Last autumn very startling reports 
were spread as to the discovery of a true vein of apatite in 
Canada, and much anxiety was entertained as to the effect 
on the price of South Carolina rock, but since then no 
corroboration has followed. 

Canadian apatite is difficult to grind, and in spite of its 
very high content (eighty per cent.) of phosphate of lime, its 
conversion into super-phosphates is attended with difficulty. 

A^orzueg in n Apatite. 

A few years since a vein of apatite was discovered at 
Odegaarden, not far from Langesund, on the Southern 
coast of Norway, which has since then been worked by the 
Bamble Phosphate Company and others on a considerable 
scale. It was found in the face of a low rocky ledge, occur- 
ring in mica and a clay-slate. Its length is about five 
hundred yards ; its thickness one to four feet. Much dif- 
ficulty is experienced from the occurrence of " horses," i. e. 
masses of the "gangue " rock in the vein, and the spring- 



ing of water; and the expense of preparing the rock for 
market by hand-trimming is great. The present annual 
production barely reaches a few thousand tons. The ex- 
tent of the deposit was estimated at seventy-five thousand 
tons. The first quality of apatite contains eighty-five to 
ninety per cent, bone phopphate of lime, selling for thirty 
dollars per ton ; the point of shipment is some three and one- 
half miles distant, whither it is transported in small moun- 
tain wagons. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

You will observe appended to the analysis of the various 
foreign phosphates, on the table to which your attention 
has been called from time to time this evening, some com- 
parative results obtained on the rock from different locali- 
ties in this State. 

If we confine our attention exclusively to the grade of the 
super-phosphates manufactured from this suite of samples 
examined in this laboratory, you will note the following 
averages : 

SUPER-PHOSrilATES MANUFACTURED. 

From Contain of So/ii/'A' riicsplioric Acid. 

Per Cent, 

Cambridge Coprolites lo 

French Coprolites 7^ 

Bordeaux Phosphate 5 to 1 5 

German Phosphate 8 to 16 

Spanish Phosphate 9 to 20 

Navassa Phosphate 1 1 ^/j 

South Carolina ^.'Il, . ^ to i 5 >^ 

Rio Grande Pone-Ash 14 

While I have not hesitated to employ this criterion as 
the basis of our rather practical survey this evening, it 
would be certainly amiss to ignore another mode of com- 



31 

parison which possesses a h'kc interest and profit. You are 
aware that considerable use is made of phosphate rock 
simply ground to a fine powder, and applied to the soil by 
itself, or in conjunction with potash salts, burnt marl, stable 
manure or other fertilizing materials. Without entering 
upon a discussion of the merits of this procedure, I would 
call your attention to the following table, which gives the 
average results of a long series of examinations as to the 
solubility of the different ground phosphates in a solvent 
which is supposed to approximate in its effect to the action 
of the waters occurring in soils. 

Amount of Phosphoric Acid dissolved on treat incut of the 
finely ground Phosphates from the following localities, 7viih 
an uniform quantify of ueutral-citrate-of-anunonia solution, 
{spec. graiK i.o<p) : 

Per C'^iil. 

Cambridge Coprolites 0.85 

French Coprolites 0.63 to i .77 

I^ordeaux Phosphate 3.35 

German Phosphate 2.00 to 2.40 

Mexillones Guano 4.69 

Raza Island 1 5.83 

Rio Grande Bone-Ash 4.98 

South Carolina Phosphate Rock 2.21 to 6.30 

While it must be admitted that this method of investiga- 
tion, as to the comparative assimilabilit}' of the various 
phosphates, leaves much to be desired, yet there is a con- 
siderable value to be attached to the results, conducted as 
they were in an uniform manner. Attention is called to the 
fact that the South Carolina phosphates are, on the average, 
as readily attacked as the Mexillones guano, and the Rio 
Grande bone-ash, and much more so than the French and 
German phosphates, which have been used for a long time — 
and, as is claimed by some, successfully — in the simple pul- 
verized condition as a means of supplying the requisite 
phosphatic pabulum to plants. 



32 



The lateness of the hour precludes anything more than a 
brief summary of the commercial situation. Assuming that 
of the two hundred thousand tons of phosphate rock now- 
raised from the various South Carolina mines, one-third is 
consumed at home, and two-thirds are exported, chiefly to 
England, we see at once how seriously the price of our 
commodity must be affected by any new or increased com- 
petition in the English market. 

At this moment the stagnation and anxiety in commer- 
cial operations on the other side of the Atlantic, have un- 
questionably depressed the price of phosphates in general. 
It is to be expected that a reaction must come some t-ime, 
and that the demand will once more become active. When 
that day shall, happily, have arrived, will there be room for 
a yet larger consumption of South Carolina rock ? My re- 
marks this evening have been designed to put you in a 
position to answer this important question. 

The old beds— on which the English market relied — have 
either failed entirely, or show evidence of early exhaustion, 
with the exception of the Spanish, more especially that of 
Logrosan, which looms up like a spectre."" Is there any 
probability of the discovery of a new deposit ? In answer 
to this question, it must be remarked that the great variety 
of occurrence, form and color, which mark phosphatic sub- 
stances, are favorable to their having been overlooked or 
neglected even in regions where considerable attention has 
been bestowed on the development of mineral wealth. 

For the sake of the State, of the community, of us all 
who are here assembled, it is to be hoped that with an in- 
creasing demand for phosphates, no other bed may be dis- 
covered or give unexpected increase of yield, so that we 
may reap a long and rich harvest from our Bonanza. 

Trusting that you have derived information which may 
prove of value to yourselves, from this evening's occupa- 
tion, and thanking you for your courteous attention, I close. 

*In recalling the various materials which have been presented to your con- 
sideration, you will please note that bones which now go very generally to the 
sugar refiner, come ultimately into agricultural use after having served in the 
clarification of syrups. 



COMMERCIAL PHOSPHATES, 

ACCORDING TO ANALYSES EXECUTED IN THE LABORATORY OF 
Dr. SHEPARD, CHARLESTON, S. C. 



LOCALITIES 

Whence the samples were obtained. 



Those marked with an asterisk were collected 
by Dr. Shepard on the spot. 

Those in italics are commercial samples. 





'Jl 


<i) 






r 


c 




•>1 


n 




M 


~r 


> 


•a 


■a 




V 


ij 


< 


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■i 


Q} 




iv 






- 


1 -" 


^ 


.C 


2 


■5, 


(U 

■0 








j: 




a. 


P 


ftCAi 




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11 




























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0. bf\ 


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NORWEGIAN. 

Norwegian^ high grade 

*(Jdegaarden 

RUSSIAN. 

*Government of Orel 

Government of Podolia 

ENGLISH. 

'^Cambridgeshire Coprolites 

CiDiibridgeshin- Coprolites 

FRENCH. 

( "irand Pre, Ardennes 

Varennes, Meiise 

A rdenncs Coprolites 

*Bellegariie Coprolites 

*I)0rdeau.\ (Lot), high grade 

* Bordeaux (Lot), low grade 

Bordeaux (Lot), Tarne-et-Garoune. 

Bordeaux Phosphate 

Bordeaux Phosphate 

GERMAN. 

* Nassau Phosphate 

Nassau^ inferior . ... 

*Nassau (Dehrn), white and soft.. . 

* Nassau (Dehrn), brown 

*Nassau (Dehrn), yellowish brown. 

*Nassau (Dehrn), black 

Peine Coprolites 

Horde, black phosphatic slate 

SPANISH. 

Spanishy best 

Spanish, inferior 

Caceres Mines — 

*Abundancia 

*Estrella, white and hard 

*Estrella, rosy and pulverulent 

*Esmeralda, rosy and pulverulent. . 

*Esmeralda, white and hard 

*San Eugenic 

Rosa, at Slalpartida 

I.ogrosan Mines — 

* Yellowish-white and hard 

* Rosy-white and compact 

*White, soft and mammillary 

♦White and hard 

Zarza la Mayor 

WEST INDIAN. 

.Va7iassa Island 

Old Curacoa Island 

New Curacoa Island 

Sombrero Island 

Swan Island, dense rock 

Redonda Island 

Elroque Island 

PACIFIC OCEAN. 

Raza Island 

Mexillones 

Enderberry Island Rock-Guano 

NORTH AMERICAN. 

Rio (Jrande Bone-.4sh 

Canadian Apatite 



38.79 
37.66 

I3-35 
30-59 

26.47 
25-95 

17-13 
21.91 
20.71 

23-37 
38.64 
21.46 
32.03 

34-45 
35-46 

34.88 
17-56 
34-83 
33-25 
34.82 
26.25 
14-38 
19.48 

38.05 
20.15 

27.00 
29.09 
38.07 
37-38 
32.06 
39-07 
36.18 

37-55 
42.17 
41.72 

36.97 
36.26 

33-18 
32-52 



40.19 
32.00 

42.83 

33-23 
39.08 

39-84 
39.80 



P. c. 

84.68 
82.21 

29.14 
66.78 

57-78 
56.65 

37-39 
47-83 
45-21 
51.02 
84-35 
46.85 
69.92 
75.20 
77-41 

76.14 
38.33 
76.03 
72-58 
76.01 
57-30 
31-39 
42.52 

83.06 
43-99 

58.94 
63.50 
83.11 
81.60 
69.99 
85.29 
78.9S 

81.97 
92.06 
91.07 
80.71 
79.16 

72.43 
70.99 



87-73 



93-50 
72.54 
85-31 

86.97 



8.13 
7-39 

40 
49 



Traces 



4-32 
12.63 
7.09 

1.29 
1 races 
Traces 



16.40 

2.49 
^4.98 
Traces 



10.09 
10.02 

5-34 
5-14 
7.60 
8.36 
14.98 
5-04 
15.28 
12.48 
15.00 

16.61 
8.08 
15-32 
13.82 
13.69 
Wet 
5.82 



14.04 
9.20 

13.62 
14.72 
15.04 

15-94 
15.60 
16.60 
12.26 

16.20 
18.10 
18.68 
19-53 
15-49 

11.42 



5-91 



16.90 
13-83 
Wet 
Wet 

22.48 



13.9a 
'9-59 



The Samples marked "Wet" failed to dry sufficiently to allow of their chemical examination. 



SOUTH CAROLINA PHOSPHATES. 

Siipcr-pJiosplint cs , made according to the foregoing proportions 
from the nnder-mentioncd localities : 



Localities. Yielded of Soludle Phosphoric Acid — P. C. 

Cooper River — Land Deposit 10.70 

Ashley River — " 12 

Ashley River — " g 

Between Ashley River and Rantowle's Creek — Land Deposit iS-SS 

30 



Wattdo River — River Deposit ; 10 

Stono Ri7>er — " 12 

Edisto River — Land Deposit 11 

9 



Ashepoo River — Land Deposit 12 

14 



Bull River — River Deposit 12 

Coosaiu River — • " 14 

Beau/ort River — " 10 



ERRATA. 

Page 6 — gth line from bottom read "acid" for "acids." 
" 7 — 6tli line from top read "speedy" for " spedy." 

" 10 — 14th line from l>ottom insert " fiiecal " before word "accumulation. 
" 16 — 5th line from top read " exuvire " for " exuvial." 
" iS — liottom line read " Rhone" for "Rhine." 
" 30 — 5th line from bottom read " 9j4 " for " 10." 



002 756 377 6 • 



